Losing Our Marbles

Nestling between Wednesday and Friday is Thursday - the ideal time if you missed Tuesday, or, like me, feel twice a week isn't quite enough for your socially questionable habit.

Martin felt the same so he and Andy arrived at my (Sam's) house for a bit of extra-hot GNN action.

We began with The Palaces of Carrara, the game that Martin kind of arrived at GNN towers clutching in his hand, until he won so many games of it that everybody refused to play him again. I had somehow missed this whole lose-to-Martin sequence (with Palaces, anyway) which I think had mostly taken place at Roll for the Soul, and I remained curious about the game. I had lost to Martin in plenty of games, but not this one yet.

However it only took about 45 minutes for Martin to rectify that, as he took myself and Andy to the cleaners in this crazy game of marble-production, marble-selling and building-stuff-from-marble:

Martin: clean 38
Andy: shabby 28
Me: dirty 17

The wheel of Martin's imminent success

I could go into the detail of this game but frankly I had no idea what I was doing, except to say that feeling your way into a game is a non-productive quality when it's actually a race to meet the variable winning-requirements. Martin blitzed us, but despite my near-total confusion I enjoyed it. I'd like to play it again.

Next up was Quantum - new to Andy and unfamiliar to Martin, who hadn't played in a while. I had indulged recently, and shot into an early lead. But only having one cube left to place meant Martin and Andy came after me, and I looked like I was going to be at least caught, if not overhauled, until a fortuitous card came up. I completed my Dominance and got my last cube down:

Sam: 0 cubes left
Martin: 1 cube left
Andy: 2 cubes left

Andy didn't like it, but he was thrown in at the deep end with two semi-experts and to be fair, some really shitty dice. At one stage it seemed like the only thing he could roll was a five.

Quantum of Solace

By this time it was half-ten and Andy decided to hit the road. Martin elected to take the bus - his commitment to gaming is something else - and we played Haggis. Both of us were rusty and drunk at this point, but my rustiness and drunkeness aligned itself to a decent set of cards, and in this canny trick-taking game I surged into an early lead that fate decreed me not to surrender:

Sam 100 points
Martin 48 points

Then Martin scarpered for the bus and I marvelled at winning two games in a row against Martin 'The Machine" Griffiths.... not only that, I have to thank him for the game-themed beer...

drink up!

						Points
Martin	2	1	2	2	1	8
Katy	1	3	2	2	1	9
Andrew	2	1	4	1	1	9
Jon	2	2	2	2	1	9
Sam	1	3	2	2	2	10
Matt	4	1	2	1	2	10
Ian	1	3	3	3	2	12
Andy	3	2	2	4	1	12
Hannah	3	3	2	2	2	12
Joe	2	1	3	3	4	13
Chris	2	5	1	1	4	13
Anja	2	1	1	5	5	14
Adam	3	2	2	4	4	15
Steve	3	3	5	1	3	15
Stanley	3	2	4	1	5	15

Ailing Frontiers

Where would we be without games? Just a bunch of people, aged thirty plus, sitting around a table and staring at each other. Or rather, sitting around two tables. For tonight GNN split into two groups in two different places. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Both Joe and Sam were housebound this Tuesday, so Martin went to Joe’s for some two-player Wir Sind Das Volk, the game that tries to work out what Honecker did wrong, apparently.

We, on the other hand, were four in number: host Sam, and Ian, Andy and me all braving the elements.

Our first game was Alien Frontiers, undergoing a bit of a revival. Sam and I had both played it recently and enjoyed it, and Andy mentioned on the blog that he liked it, so it was only a case of teaching Ian and we were on our way into galactic super-space with knobs on!

Well, all I can say is that I got an abrupt reminder of why it got traded away in the first place. In a four player game, there is a lot of waiting between goes, with no opportunity to plan ahead. I found it really quite dull. Waiting that long to roll some dice which won’t be what you want is no fun at all.

Andy 10
Sam 5 (wins on Alien Tech cards)
Ian 5
Andrew 4

After this, we looked for something to fill an hour or two. We chose Ra and what a unique game it was. Not just because I won (my first leaderboard win on Ra) but because of the very few successful bids that Andy made. He made none in the first round, two in the second, and then none again in the final round. Unsurprisingly, he scored fewer points than he began with.

I managed to get my Nile to flood each round, and Sam got the Pharaoh bonus later in the game. Ian had a few buildings.

Andrew 43
Sam 33
Ian 21
Andy 8

We ended with a rousing game of Love Letter. It was first to three. We bluffed and battled and at one point it was Sam 1, Andy 1, Andrew 1, Ian 0. But then the Ian machine shifted into gear (ie, poured himself another whiskey) and won three in a row, sealing the win.

Ian 3
Andy 1
Andrew 1
Sam 1

And all of this means that the form table looks a little bit something like this...

						Points
Katy	1	3	2	2	1	9
Andrew	2	1	4	1	1	9
Martin	2	2	1	3	1	9
Jon	2	2	2	2	1	9
Matt	4	1	2	1	2	10
Sam	2	2	2	2	3	11
Andy	2	4	1	2	2	11
Ian	1	3	3	3	2	12
Hannah	3	3	2	2	2	12
Joe	2	1	3	3	4	13
Chris	2	5	1	1	4	13
Anja	2	1	1	5	5	14
Adam	3	2	2	4	4	15
Steve	3	3	5	1	3	15
Stanley	3	2	4	1	5	15

How the West was (finally) won

Sam and I both being unable to travel, we spread the love tonight, with a table of five (I think) at Sam's, and Martin joining me for another crack at Wir Sind Das Volk!

This was to be our third game, as we met last Thursday at Roll for the Soul, and didn't blog it. Then, both Martin's West and my East collapsed at the end of the second decade - a circumstance which means East wins. I can't say that one felt like a worthy victory, as I was fairly bladdered by the end. But a win it was. 2-0 to me.

Tonight we were both better prepared; not only was I not drunk I'd even read the rules and the excellent design notes!
We began a cagey game of tit-for-tat, and ended the first decade in half an hour, with both sides having built up very little economy or living standards. As we played out the consequences, Martin started to get nervous: he'd unwisely built up living standards in a single province and ignored the West Berliners. This they found unconscionable, and soon all of West Germany was a cauldron of mass protest. Meaning I won again. 3-0 to the East.

Final game state -
you can't see the West Berlin uprising from this angle...

We'd barely played for half an hour, so we reset the map and went again. This time we played to the end of the third decade, and it was a very different game again. From the mid sixties on, West Germany flourished, whilst the East was a barren wasteland of under-developed economy, propped up by pomp and prestige with a fair amount of help from the Stasi. This combined with a good deal of Socialist doctrine kept the people quiet, if not exactly happy. In retrospect, had I not raised the living standards at all I might have been better off; as it was, the East collapsed into insolvency a the close of the third decade, with absolutely no economy and no Western Currency to bolster it.

The fact that I'd neglected to sign the Warsaw Pact or build the wall may not have helped - I've never built the wall, but this was the first game in which I didn't build any factories in Poland or Russia to help boost my economy, and I think that may have been an issue.

Needless to say Martin was delighted to finally win, and has suggested we switch sides soon; it's probably sensible, though I'm only gradually getting to grips with the Eastern strategy, I'm not at all sure I'm ready for that challenge. It's a very absorbing, very unique game though; great to get some repeat plays in - four in two weeks!

We then played a couple of games of Khmer. Martin won the first but I at least took a round off him. I won the second, after thinking very hard before each play. A very clever little game; so simple and elegant. And gorgeous to boot.

Now to find out what was happening chez Sam . . . JB

Pips in Spaaaace!

It was Monday, and despite the fact that tomorrow we’d be knee deep in cubes and cards at the regular GNN meet, Sam and I met up for a little light box-based entertainment.

We began with Alien Frontiers. It appeared briefly on the GNN landscape three years ago, but failed to get an audience. Recently, Sam bought another copy, and so he and I decided to try it again. Since we knew the rules (I needed a brief refresher), it was simplicity itself to set it up and get going.

It was a pretty fast-moving game. We rolled, blocked each other and tried to colonise the planet before the other did. It was fun, and that can’t just have been due to our early decision to get shit-faced. As a semi-light game, it does okay. It’s by no means a main event, but may slip into that nether region of games that fit into an awkward forty-five minutes at the end of an evening.

It was pretty close throughout, with Sam just getting down his last colonies in the turn before I was about to end the game.

Sam 11
Andrew 10

Next we decided to be thematically consistent, and pulled Quantum down from the shelves, for more dice-based space exploration. This game of inter-galactic explosions needs no introduction. I chose the map, which means I have no excuse for what happened next. Sam swanned around the map placing cubes, while I desperately battled his cubes, trying to postpone the inevitable. A whitewash.

Sam 0 cubes left
Andrew 4 cubes left

With enough time for one more game, we went for the most predictable choice we could make: 7 Wonders. No one could accuse us of foregoing old favourites in favour of the flavour of the day (and that’s very nearly a new tounge twister) when 7 Wonders is such a regular to our table.

As usual, Dirk went for sciences. I got the Statue of Zeus for my wonder, and I chose the side that allowed you to copy a neigbouring guild. This is pretty powerful in a two player game, because if you can’t build a guild, there’s a chance that Dirk can, and you still get the benefit.

I got three guilds in the final round, along with one copied from Dirk to give me a huge 32 points. Plus, I got 18 for military, which got me first place. Dirk's sciences (26 points) could not hold off Sam’s blue buildings (39 points) and so Sam avoided the ignominy of losing to Dirk.

Andrew 56
Sam 52
Dirk 47

Hit for six

You would think that after a three-day weekend and a Tuesday of serious gaming, that Thursday evening would be part of the recovery before plunging headfirst once again into the maelstrom that is th GNN form table. But you’d be wrong. Ian, Sam and I cannot resist the smell of a rule book, the touch of a tiny wooden cube or the inimitable snap of a winning card being played on the table.

I arrived at ten to eight, and Quantum was already half open, so it seemed like the obvious choice. For Ian and Sam, that is. I haven’t played in a while, and my rustiness showed. They flew around with their dominance and their cards, while I had nothing but the luck of the dice and a steely determination to keep me going. That's how real heroes fight a space war!

Even so, it was an epic battle. Ian was wiped off the board completely at one point and I think both Sam and I were both down to out last plucky die during the game.

A lot of the time was spent trying to stop whoever looked to be in the lead, but Sam’s unlikely collection of 1s, 2s, and a 5, and his command cards, including Cunning (use a free action twice) and Relentless (use a move/attack action twice) meant he was able to swoop in and place his final cube while I was on the toilet. That is, so it seems, how real heroes lose a space war.

Sam 0 cubes left
Ian 1 cube left
Andrew 3 cubes left

So next, we broke out Alhambra. It was new to Ian, but he got a quick run the the rules, and there aren't that many, and we were awaaay! My Alhambra was the most balanced, with Sam and Ian boxing themselves in with early walls, but it was close. After the second round of scoring, we were all adjacent on the score track.

In the third round, though, I focused on my favourite buildings, and fluked a couple of second places that got me higher points than those who tied for first (we played house rules. Not official, but much more fun). Sam, though, continued his reign as king of walls, so he just squeaked ahead of me.

Sam 143
Andrew 142
Ian 126

Then Sam decided that was it for the evening, although it was barely past 10 o’clock. I went for a last visit to the loo before my journey out but, by the time I came back, things had changed. Ian was taking off his scarf and coat, and there was a pile of short games on the table to chose from.

We went for Love Letter, deciding it was slightly shorter than Raj or Timeline, apparently still under the impression that the evening was about to end soon. But the whiskey was brought down from the high shelf, and that changed everything.

What happened in the game? Not sure. Anyone with a princess early got found out soon enough, and Ian played his cards better than anyone else. That’s about as much as I can remember.

Ian 3
Sam 2
Andrew 0

And with the whiskey coursing through our veins, we brought down 7 Wonders. Sam’s logic was that it was that we were going to play another short game and this was the difference between going home at 11.00 and 11.10pm.

Ignoring my alcohol-fuelled mistake of building a resource that I already had, I went for sciences early, which was enough to scare Sam into thinking I’d walked it, but with no military or blue buildings, it wasn’t enough, Thinking back, there was one card I could’ve played instead of using it to build part of my wonder, but that would have got me maybe enough to scrape into third. I was also banking on Ian’s and Sam’s military expansion canceling each other out, for the maximum possible cost. It wasn’t to be. Sam’s blue buildings and three guilds for Ian helped them pass me in the final count.

Sam 62
Ian 51
Andrew 49

But we still had whiskey in our glasses! Enough time, then, for one more game. We went back to Love Letter. This time I was drunk enough to bypass my usual reticence. Also, I didn’t get the princess. I don’t remember being particularly clever or cunning, but I did enough to nab my first win of the evening.

Andrew 3
Ian 2
Sam 1

Finally, in the kind of logic that says “I’m already standing with my head in a noose, I may as well jump off the chair,” we decided on more game to end the evening. And it was Biblios. And what an odd Biblios it was. Church cards came out at the start, depressing blues and browns. I went for greens and oranges, and managed to get both. Sam successfully won reds, along with the cheap browns and blues while Ian found himself squeezed out of everything.

Andrew 7
Sam 6
Ian 0

So I managed to end with two wins! Thanks goodness. After the three of us reset our scores with six games in an evening, the form table remains remarkably unchanged.

						Points
Katy	1	3	2	2	1	9
Martin	2	2	1	3	1	9
Jon	2	2	2	2	1	9
Sam	2	3	1	2	1	9
Andrew	1	1	3	3	2	10
Andy	2	2	3	2	1	10
Matt	4	1	2	1	2	10
Ian	3	2	2	1	3	11
Hannah	3	3	2	2	2	12
Joe	2	1	3	3	4	13
Chris	2	5	1	1	4	13
Anja	2	1	1	5	5	14
Adam	3	2	2	4	4	15
Steve	3	3	5	1	3	15
Stanley	3	2	4	1	5	15

Work hard, play hard.

Having a good time can be hard work. This was the primary notion coursing through my mind as I negotiated through M4 traffic on the way home last night. After briefly fielding the first 32 of Ashton's questions I set out again to meet Paul at the station. Through all this my thoughts were going over half learnt rules to my recent acquisition Dungeon Lords. This game has been out since 2009 and I think the first and last time I played it was around then but when a friend from the RBGS posted his list of games to sell I felt I had to take advantage.

My memory of it was that it was an uncompromising worker placement game where, actually, to score above 0 was an achievement. Certainly digesting the rules just before play requires no small amount of patience and acceptance that you'll just have to work it out when you get to it.

In brief, the game sets you up as the aspiring Dungeon Lords of the title. You're given a 5x5 dungeon, three starter tunnels, a bunch of resources and action cards, one for each action you can take. The worker placement element of this game is muddied by the fact that you can be pushed out of your choice if too many people go for it or if you get in to early you may not get enough resource. The general idea is to build your dungeon up over the course of the year gaining monsters, traps and production rooms only to be met by a party of flipping heroes at the end of it.

Paul (yellow) stealing all the village's food and money!

At the point the tracker board is flipped over and a somewhat complicated but eventually understandable battle sequence takes place. The combat is brutal and very difficult to win. Almost everyone gets part of their dungeon invaded but the skill is preventing too much damage. After two game years points are awarded for how well you've done. Get over zero and you can call yourself a Dungeon Lord.

Imps. Useful. And tasty

So how did it go? Well not too bad. Understandably there was a lot of referencing and process clarifications going on but by the end of the first year we all felt we had a grip of things. Combat wasn't to painful either, except for me where I managed to lose three tunnels and my production room. It was then that Paul noticed the clock claiming we'd better hurry up if we wanted to finish on time.

This never happened. Try as we might to speed along there was just too much game to fit in. We finished before the final combat. James was adjudicated by pools panel to be the most like player to have won and I was definitely last after picking up minus 9 points in unpaid dungeon taxes!

There was palpable disappointment that we hadn't managed to achieve the payoff but at least each of us enjoyed the experience enough to try again next games night, even though it was hard work.

River cheap, Mountain high

The Tuesday after a big games weekend was bound to be a bit sparse. I was amazed at Ian’s stamina as he attended again so soon after his three-day marathon. We met up at Joe’s, with Ian, Martin and myself.

We chose Lost Valley to play because the last time it had been played, it was exactly us who’d played it. Even so, we needed to constantly refer to the rules throughout, and some misunderstandings over the rules almost came to blows.

Joe though his Haggler skill meant each could buy supplies from the general store for one gold nugget less, and had just filled up his cart when Martin told him that it entitled him to one nugget discount on the final total.

Then Martin realised he hadn’t moved his meeple to the right spot last time, and asked if he could start his turn from a different spot. Joe said no, since everyone else had had a turn and, besides, it would put him at immediate risk from Martin’s stealin’ ways.

Personally, I think that this only spurred Martin on to greater heights of mischief as he darted about the board, nabbing other people’s gold and building up a commanding lead. Ian set off into the wilderness on his horse, and discovered his own mine, far from anyone else. So far that not even Martin could be bothered to plunder it. This assured Ian of second place. I only managed joint third thanks to me shooting whatever animal I happened to finish my turn next to and getting a bonus point each time.

Martin 38
Ian 28
Joe 17
Andrew 17

It was nice to get this game back on the table. It’s main drawback is how long it took to set up and put away. There’ s a myriad of pieces, and even with them neatly separated in little plastic fishing tackle boxes, it took a while to get everything in the right place with the right amount.

Next we played a new game, Potato Man. This absurdly named game is absurdly simple. There are four suits that cover different ranges (1-13 yellow, 3-14 green, 4-16 blue and 5-18 red) but the three weakest cards (1-3 yellow) are called Super Potato Man! and they can beat the three strongest cards (16-18 red) called Evil Potatoes. Win a trick with a yellow cards, pick up a four-point card. Greens get you a three-point card, blues two and reds one. Score a trick with a colour where the point cards have been exhausted (there are three or four of each, I don't quite remember) and you can pick up a lovely five-point card!

An evil potato

Apart from that, the only other rule is that you cannot follow suit. So, in a four player game, every player had to play one each of the four colours. The moment a player cannot play a card, then that round is over. A game lasts four rounds.

Of course, this runs the risk of very short rounds if a player isn’t dealt a particular colour, and then is required to play it when it’s his turn. This is exactly what happened in the second round of our first game. Ian had no reds at all, and had to play a red. He couldn’t: end of round. The next two rounds weren’t much better, and the whole game ended quickly and low-scoringly.

Joe 9
Martin 8
Andrew 6
Ian 5

We decided to play again, and this time the rounds lasted a bit longer and some strategy could be used. At least, it could be used if you weren’t sitting to the left of Ian. He constantly used the same colour that I wanted to use and consequently I never got to carry out my cunning masterplan to rule the world. But that’s because Ian was too busy carrying out his own.

As we entered the last round, it looked like it was Martin versus Joe, so they tried their best to cancel each other out. But this meant Ian picked up lots of tricks and scored a massive 12 points that round to finish the clear winner.

Ian 22
Joe 19
Martin 19
Andrew 10

A great game. So simple, I’m amazed it hasn’t been invented before. However, if the next time we play it, if I’m left of Ian, I will insist on changing seats. It was telepathic disobediance of the highest order.

As for the form table, Katy rises to the top without even attending! Congratulations!

						Points
Katy	1	3	2	2	1	9
Martin	2	2	1	3	1	9
Jon	2	2	2	2	1	9
Andy	2	2	3	2	1	10
Sam	3	3	1	1	2	10
Matt	4	1	2	1	2	10
Ian	1	4	2	2	2	11
Andrew	3	3	3	1	1	11
Hannah	3	3	2	2	2	12
Joe	2	1	3	3	4	13
Chris	2	5	1	1	4	13
Anja	2	1	1	5	5	14
Adam	3	2	2	4	4	15
Steve	3	3	5	1	3	15
Stanley	3	2	4	1	5	15